He didn’t mention that Iowa lacks two-year revenue projections to back up his promises to spend no more than state government takes in. More background and details are after the jump.

Speaking to the Iowa GOP’s “Night of the Rising Stars” event in Des Moines on April 2, Branstad vowed to “get the state’s finances in order”:

“And the budget that I’ve submitted and that I’m going to insist on is a two-year biennial budget and every year we spend less than we take in, we spend less than they did last year and we’re not using one-time money for ongoing expenses. We’re also projecting out for five years and spending less than we’re taking in each year.” […]

“If they send me a one-year budget, I’ll veto it, and I’ll veto it, and I’ll veto it until we get a two year budget and get the state on the right financial track.”

Branstad also fails to reconcile his demand for a two-year budget with the lack of solid numbers supporting a two-year spending plan. The governor’s staff may have projected state revenues for five years, but Iowa’s budget process relies on numbers from the non-partisan Revenue Estimating Conference. As Bleeding Heartland discussed here, there are no revenue projections for fiscal year 2013, which runs from July 2012 through June 2013. Even if lawmakers had two-year revenue estimates to draw from, biennial budgeting strikes me as less fiscally responsible than annual budgeting, because it is so difficult to predict revenues far into the future. It’s even more irresponsible to draft a two-year budget without any numbers from the REC.

Speaking to Lynch this weekend, Dvorsky “projected the gap between majority Senate Democrats and Branstad at about $300 million” for the next fiscal year. He also called for “gubernatorial leadership” during negotiations over the state budget in the coming weeks. But in an April 4 press release from the Senate Democrats, Dvorsky had fighting words about the governor’s stance on state spending:

Statement by Senator Bob Dvorsky of Coralville, chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee

“At a Republican fundraising event over the weekend, the Governor said in regard to the state budget: ‘I’ll veto it and I’ll veto it and I’ll veto it until we get a two-year budget.’

“Why is Governor Branstad willing to massively disrupt Iowa’s economy to force passage of a two-year starvation budget for local schools? The Governor and Legislative Republicans insist there be NO increase in basic state aid to local schools. This has NEVER happened since the school aid formula was created 40 years ago. […]

“Given the overreaching power grabs by Republican governors in other states, perhaps Governor Branstad is trying to create a crisis in order to impose an extreme budget, one that would fire thousands of teachers, school workers, prison guards and other public employees.”

I doubt the governor and lawmakers will reach consensus on the budget in time for the legislature to adjourn on April 29, as scheduled.

Sen. Robert Dvorsky, D-Coralville, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the Iowa Legislature hasn’t approved a two-year state budget since 1983 and he doesn’t see any reason to make changes now.

His stance sets up a possible deadlock between Democrats who control the Iowa Senate and the GOP governor, although Dvorsky said he doesn’t expect the clash will lead to a shutdown of state government.

“I think the process will be we will end up with a bill that we will send down that is a one-year budget. We will see if the governor actually vetoes it or not,” Dvorsky said. […]

A two-year budget would provide less flexibility for state policy makers because it would require planning 36 months in advance, Dvorsky added.

Asked how far Democrats would be willing to go if Branstad carries out his veto threat, Dvorsky said, “Well, I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it.”

in his budget speech

Keep in mind that even during the 1970s recessions, 1980s farm crisis, and budget crunches of 1992, 2001-2, and 2009, Iowa NEVER passed a budget with allowable growth of less than 1 percent for K-12 budgets. Suddenly Branstad wants us to believe the budget is in such dire shape that we can’t afford allowable growth for two years.